Will Eisner

Mad magazine caricaturist Mort Drucker was named outstanding cartoonist of the year by the National Cartoonists' Society. "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz presented Drucker with the society's Reuben Award, named for Rube Goldberg, who designed the statue of four improbably shaped tumblers holding up a bottle of ink.

Maybe they just decided to go to Comic-Con. After 11 years, the leaders of New York's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art have shuttered their venue. The abrupt closure came Monday, with museum officials saying they will move out of the current space by the end of July, according to reports. Admittedly, the museum is a small one, occupying the fourth floor of a building in the SoHo neighborhood of New York. The organization, known somewhat humorously as MoCCA, devoted itself to exhibitions on the world of comics.

SERIES The Suite Life on Deck: The series about the ocean-going misadventures of a set of mischievous twins returns with new episodes (8 p.m. Disney). 20/20: Barbara Walters interviews two young girls who suffer from the rapid-aging disorder called progeria on a special edition of the newsmagazine (10 p.m. ABC). The Day Before: Fashion designer Alexander Wang is featured (10 p.m. Sundance). Four Weddings: The reality series returns with a new round of nuptials (10 p.m. TLC)

It seems corporate influence has once again won out over public interest. How can (Disney Chairman) Michael Eisner possibly name Anaheim's new National Hockey League team the Mighty Ducks? The only reason I can see for giving the team such a Mickey Mouse name is the free advertising it will give the movie (which, not surprisingly, is scheduled for video release in the near future). On the other hand, the reasons for dropping the name are plentiful. Logically, ducks fly south for the winter and are hunted.

No comic-book creator has seen his work brought to the screen with more reverence than Frank Miller, whose ultra-violent graphic novels "300" and "Sin City" were adapted to film practically panel by panel. "It is very strange," Miller said, "to draw something and then have it come alive in front of you. You start to feel like a low-rent god, but, in my case, one with major feet of clay. . . .

Random House said it will publish a long-anticipated autobiography by Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner, probably in October. The book, which Eisner, who has been collaborating with writer Tony Schwartz for about four years, is expected to cover his views of the entertainment business and his tenure at Disney since he was hired to turn the company around in 1984.

Acknowledging the "subjective" in Geoff Boucher's "highly subjective guide to some of the best graphic novels" does not erase my concern that Boucher's article ["Serious About Comics," Nov. 17], and the exhibition that inspired his article, treat women cartoonists as a side note. In the late 1980s, I began to notice that most newspapers, including The Times, published only two comics by women -- the same two comics, out of a total of 36, that appear in today's Times: Lynn Johnston's "For Better or For Worse" and Cathy Guisewite's "Cathy."